In recent years, the popularity of endoscopic surgery has proliferated. In fact, it may be accurate to say that endoscopic surgery is now the accepted medical standard for performing many surgical procedures which in past years were not traditionally conducted with endoscopic instruments. A major advantage of endoscopic surgery is that it creates much less trauma for the patient than traditional surgical techniques which required direct visual observation of the site under investigation by the surgeon. Advances have occurred in the electronic industry which allow smaller and smaller endoscopes to be used, thereby permitting endoscopic procedures to be undertaken in a less invasive manner then was previously possible. Also, improved circuitry and optics technology has resulted in enhanced visual imagery by the smaller endoscopes.
However, because of the sophisticated optics and circuitry contained in modern endoscopes, they can be very expensive and difficult to maintain. Additionally, since the size of the endoscope is still a major concern in endoscopic procedures, standard surgical instruments must be modified to reduce their size in order that the instruments can be used simultaneously with the endoscope. For example, it is well-known in the art to provide a plurality of channels within or around the endoscope in order that miniature surgical instruments such as forceps or the like may be simultaneously introduced with the endoscope. Therefore, the construction of most prior art endoscopes begins first with consideration of the size of the endoscope, and then operative channels are formed within or around the endoscope so that the modified surgical instrument may be introduced simultaneously to the site under investigation.
Although great advances have been made in the electronic industry in terms of reducing the size of the imaging elements which are used within the endoscope, many endoscopes in use continue to be too large to conduct certain surgical procedures. Additionally, many surgical procedures cannot be effectively conducted with the miniaturized surgical instruments. Rather, a more fall size surgical instrument is still required. Furthermore, cost continues to be a prohibitive factor because the special surgical instruments must be manufactured which are small enough to fit within the small channels of the endoscope being used.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that an even smaller imaging device is desirable which can be used universally with larger and more standard sized surgical instruments in order to reduce the cost of providing endoscopic capability for certain surgical procedures as well as maintaining a minimally invasive sized instrument with imaging capability which is used to conduct such surgical procedures.